Eastern Europe and Scandinavia Show Commitment to Fibre-To-The-Home

FTTH Conference sees latest statistics of fibre-to-the-home penetration in European countries with Lithuania taking the lead

At the FTTH Conference 2010 in Lisbon, the FTTH Council Europe unveiled the latest figures showing which European countries are leading the way in the penetration of fibre-to-the-home at year-end 2009.

Although Sweden, Norway and Slovenia have maintained their places in the top five, they have been overtaken by Lithuania, which made a dynamic jump to the number one position with 18 percent FTTH penetration. All four countries now have penetration rates greater than 10 percent - a significant milestone for Europe.

France and Portugal broke into the Ranking for the first time, helped by strong deployment of fibre infrastructure as well as marketing efforts to engage subscribers. FTTH uptake in both countries is expected to continue to increase rapidly as both countries also rank in the top 10 economies in terms of the availability of FTTH.

In absolute figures Europe has reached 2.5 million subscribers; 3.5 million if Russia is also included. The majority of subscribers (77 percent) are concentrated in seven countries, in the following order: Sweden, Italy, France, Lithuania, Norway, The Netherlands and Denmark. Amongst them 5 countries now have connected more than 200,000 subscribers.

FTTH Council Europe President Karel Helsen comments: "All data gathered in the market panorama confirm our forecasts of steady growth in both the number of fibre to the home subscribers and homes passed, in spite of the economic downturn. This is great news! With France the second European G-20 country has joined the Ranking of leading FTTH/B economies, joining Italy. It is up to Germany and UK to increase their efforts to follow as soon as possible."

The FTTH Council Europe's unique Ranking is part of its Market Panorama study, commissioned from research firm IDATE. It shows the percentage of homes and businesses that receive broadband communications services over direct fibre-optic connections to their homes or buildings. The FTTH Global Ranking for 2009 will be announced at the FTTH Conference tomorrow 25 February, by representatives from the three FTTH Council organisations.